MacBook Wireless slow and unreliable

I got a MacBook on Monday to evaluate for my employer. The unit I received does not connect to our wireless network when waking from sleep, repeatedly forgets the wep key, and will say it i connected when it hasn't used the wep key, so it doesn't get a valid IP address.

When I do get it to connect briefly, the reception is all over the map and it drops occasionally. I know it is not our wireless router(s) as we have hundreds if not thousands of other machines (Winows, Mac, and even a Linux machine or two) connecting to our network daily. I have seen this kind of problem numerous times on Windows laptops, but I've never seen a hiccup from my 12 inch PowerBook unless there was something wrong with hardware. (the PowerBook is working just fine now)

I have tried setting the MacBook to only connect to preferred networks, creating a new location, adding the key to Keychain Access, enabling interference robustness, Reordering network ports in network configurations, (bluetooth and firewire are now at the bottom, but I don't want to put AirPort at the top because I want it to use the cable connection if one is present. Any ideas? The MacBook has been fully updated with the latest software updates, but other than that it's stock.
I'm also getting many console messages like this: (network names and computer names removed for security reasons)

Resources/airport: Error: WirelessAssociate2() = 88001006 for network *****
May 24 09:00:26 ****-computer /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Resources/airport: Error: (had password)
May 24 09:00:38 ****-computer mDNSResponder: Repeated transitions for interface en1 (FE80:0000:0000:0000:0216:CBFF:FEB6:7418); delaying packets by 5 seconds
May 24 09:00:42 ****-computer mDNSResponder: Repeated transitions for interface en1 (169.254.129.186); delaying packets by 5 seconds

Any suggestions would be appreciated

12 inch Powerbook 1.33 GHZ, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on May 24, 2006 6:13 AM

16 replies

Jul 18, 2006 10:21 AM in response to Marc Vose

I am having exactly the same problem as what you describe. A trip to the Apple Store and a phone call to Apple Support have been unhelpful.

I still have the connection, and the Airport menu bar shows full signal strength. Still, loading URL's on Safari is problematic, and downloading large files is almost impossible.

My MacBook appears to be fine with Airport-based networks (blazing fast connection speeds for the in-store network at the local Apple Store), but is having problems with other networks.

It's not a network problem per se, because my sister's G4 PowerBook can connect and maintain high download speeds without incident.

I hope that Apple takes this seriously. We need to be able to connect to WiFi networks that aren't under our control; otherwise, I'm not sure what the point of WiFi and a laptop is.

Keep me posted if you learn anything!

I wanted to chime in on this topic. I am having
exactly the same issues...It seems that other people
in other threads are having problems with their
MacBooks dropping wireless connections ine is
keeping the connection fine, but access it slow and
intermittent.

I often have to enter a URL in Safari's locatio bar
and hit enter two or three times to get it to
connect. Then, once it is satisfied that is has
found the server, it grabs all the data super-fast.

I have been doing traceroutes in Network Utility, and
there are times where I can load a web page in
Safari, and yet a traceroute to that same domain
fails...it hits my WiFi router, and then just hangs
and hangs, never returning any hop results.

Some people have posted that they were able to change
their router's config and solve the issues, and
that's great for them, but to me the point of a
laptop is that it is portable...hence, I never know
where I will want to connect...home, my parents', an
office, a hotel in country X, etc.

There definitely seems to be a problem here
somewhere, because my 12" PowerBook exhibits none of
this behavior.

For me, this is a potential problem, because I bought
this thig right before going away for a few
months...and I need to know I can count on my laptop
while away.

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MacBook Wireless slow and unreliable